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10 December 2010

The contempt for democracy

Think about this while you read press coverage of the student protests.

By Steven Baxter

This is a cross-post from Enemies of Reason

We’ll read a lot about these student protests today. Much of the rage will focus on the fact that an elderly chutney maker had his car kicked in by some people on his way to see Michael McIntyre and Cheryl Cole perform in his honour. Some will deplore the breaking and burning of things by those whom Kay Burley would label as “insurgents”. Some others, maybe a smaller number, will wonder if it’s a tremendously excellent thing to charge at children with police horses or drag other people out of wheelchairs, or bash them over the head with batons, and all of that – but probably conclude that, yes, sadly, it’s actually OK.

One thing that might come up a few times is the idea that a protest of this nature shows “contempt for democracy”. If it is, you have to ask: who showed contempt for democracy first?

Is it contemptuous of democracy, for example, to tell people that you have certain policies, become elected because of their votes on the basis of what you’ve said, and then once you’re safely in power for five years, turn around and say, “Look, I’m awfully sorry but things have changed – that manifesto which we said was our manifesto is more of a ‘holding manifesto’, to be broken open in the unlikely event that we ever get elected with an overall majority; and it is to be entirely ignored if we become part of a coalition, when we can cheerfully reject some or all of our promises?”

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Is it contemptuous of democracy, for example, to not tell people that you’re going to introduce something like tuition fees in the first place, but then, once you’re safely elected, and having given no indication that you’re going to introduce tuition fees, introduce tuition fees?

Does it say something about politicians’ contempt for democracy, perhaps, that the country can go to war with a foreign power that poses no threat to it, based on no legitimate evidence whatsoever, and that no citizen of that country should have a say in the matter; that entirely peaceful protests should be completely and utterly ignored because it is history, not citizens, who are the real judge of a prime minister, and besides, God told him it would all be all right?

No, of course not. Have a patronising pat on the head and a biscuit to make you feel better. None of that is contempt for democracy at all; that’s just part of the rich ebb and flow of parliamentary life, which is so very vital and important to everything getting done. Well, if people told you what they were going to do, or did the things they told you they were going to do, how on earth could things function then? It would almost be as if you were voting for parties based on certain principles, or values, and that they would stick to them, or something. And that would never do.

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